TROY -- The longtime employee and executive chef of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, who last visited the Collar City location in February, died on Thursday.

Tattooed biker Jeffrey "Cooter" Coon tried to ensure the restaurant's signature biker aesthetic and quality barbecue were present as the chain opened successive restaurants in Rochester, Harlem, Troy and Brooklyn.

In February, Coon sat down with a Record reporter at the Troy Dinosaur to discuss his role in opening new locations, a six month process of hiring new employees and training them in the art of barbecue.

"The worse thing is trying to teach people how to really barbecue and take the pride in doing what they got to do," said Coon in his gravelly voice. "That takes a few months before we ever start thinking about opening a new store."

In February, three months before his death, Coon was not only training new employees, he was designing recipes. "I'm still in the kitchen, like, everyday, whether it's in the pits or developing stuff for the next restaurant, our core barbecue is always the same," said Coon during the interview.

On Facebook, the co-workers, friends and family whose lives the burly head chef touched have reached back through an open remembrance group in the past few days. The executive chef of RMR Resorts, whose name on Facebook is Michael Beers Cec, learned from Coon.

"I first met Cooter over 20 years ago when I heard this hulking Harley riding-Marine cook yelling for me to pick up his dirty pans from the sauté station," posted Cec. "Later that summer I found out that he was the one of the nicest, most generous people I would ever meet."

"He was the first person to take time to teach a new cook, me included, the finer points of working in a kitchen; he taught me how to butcher meat, clean fish ... he bought me my first copy of the 'New Pro Chef' cookbook as a going away present when I left to take my first 'real' cooking job," posted Cec. "I wouldn't have ended up a chef without Cooter's help."

Trevor Battaglia knew Coon in New York City.

"I worked the day shift with Cooter. Coot was my boss, he was also my upstairs neighbor. It wasn't a rare occasion that we would have a few beers after work and I'd end up upstairs at his apartment for a home-cooked meal and hours of Law & Order," posted Battaglia. "Those were some of the best dinner memories I'll ever keep."

"He lives on through his recipes, in our memories and in our hearts. We'll miss you Cooter, but we will never forget."

"His personality was original Dino all the way," said Michael Vrana, the kitchen director at the Troy Dinosaur. "He believed in Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, he believed in having a great time and good food."